


First responder

by Toinette93



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Car Accidents, Gen, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27760714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toinette93/pseuds/Toinette93
Summary: Roger is late. He doesn't have the best of records, with cars.
Relationships: Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor, John Deacon & Brian May & Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22
Collections: The Froger Week 2020





	First responder

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there,  
> So, this thing was done a bit fast and it's not my best, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. It does include injury to a baby.   
> Take care  
> Toinette

“He’s late.” said Brian, stating the obvious.

“Still no news from Roger?” asked John, passing his head through the door. In the absence of their

drummer to the recording studio that morning, he’d resorted to tinkering with an amp he was working on for his bass, in the next room.

“No, dear, nothing.” said Freddie, annoyed and just a tiny bit worried.

“Should we call, the hotel, see if he’s left at least?” Asked Brian. He was loosing patience. Roger had been the one to insist on this early morning session, just the four of them, because he had something to show them and now he was almost an hour late. He’d slept in a hotel further away from the studio than the other three, in the next town actually, because of a date he’d had there the previous night, but had promised he would be there on time anyway. He wasn’t.

“Yes, errm, that sound like a good idea.” said John.

“I’ll do it.” said Freddie, voice resolute. Roger partied hard and often, but he was a professional. He very rarely let any of that mess with his work. He really, really hoped nothing had happened to his favourite drummer. He found the number of Roger’s hotel in the phone book and called. The woman who answered the phone was very polite, and mentioned than Roger had left. Almost one hour and a half ago. It only took 45 minutes to go from his hotel to the studio, so something was definitely wrong.

“Shit” Brian said. He couldn’t have summarised Freddie’s own feelings more accurately.

“Do we have his car-phone number?” asked John.

After a bit of shuffling around his pocket, Brian drew a paper with a number scribbled with his nearly illegible scrawl. “Yes. I’ll read it to you, Fred.”

The call connected to the switch-board operator, but she couldn’t reach Roger.

“Do we know what road he took?” asked Freddie.

“Yes.” answered John, who’d been to the city a few days earlier. “For much of the way, there is only one.”

“All, right I’m going to find him.”

“Freddie, you don’t drive. And he most likely just got lost, or found something interesting to do along the way.” said Brian, although his voice was far from certain. Roger did not have the best of records with cars.

“I know I don’t drive, Brimi, that’s why you’re coming with me.” He didn’t bother answering to the second part of what the guitarist had said. They both knew he was mostly trying to reassure himself.

John looked at his two obviously worried bandmates and sighed. “I’ll stay here in case Roger does arrive from some other route, or somebody calls us.”

“Thank you.” said Freddie. He knew John was probably starting to worry too, but he’s the best at dealing with those things. You have to be, with that many children he supposed.

“We’ll call you when we find him” said Brian.

Soon, they were in Brian’s car. They drove fairly slowly, looking for Roger’s vehicle, which being a red Ferrari was quite easy to spot, even for someone with as little knowledge of or interest for cars as Freddie.

T hey had driven for about twenty minutes, and were on a small rural road, when they suddenly noticed the lights of a police car and  two ambulances . Brian slowed down. There was a red car, parked on the road, just next to the  first ambulance. Roger’s car. It didn’t look damaged from here but… What  were the ambulance s doing there,  then? Brian’s parking was a lot faster and rougher than what he’ d usually do. Freddie was out of the car before the guitarist had even had time to shut down  the engine. 

They were stopped by cops, telling them to stay away, that there was nothing to see here. Behind them, Freddie and Brians could see, in the ditch, the still smoking wreck of a car, torn to pieces. Two paramedics were trying to extract a woman from the  wreckage , and there was a stretcher with a cloth covering what had to be a corpse. 

“Officer, our friend was in the red car. What happened, is he alright?” Brian was asking the policemen.

Freddie spotted a blonde head, a bit further back.  He ducked under the police line, letting Brian talk to the cops and walked towards the slim figures, trying very hard not to look at the gruesome scene to his right. 

S tanding next to a tree stump, smoking, and surrounded by cigarette butts, it was Roger. He was facing away from Freddie, and finished one more cigarette. Freddie ran to him and took his arm.

“Rog, are you ok?” He checked his friends for any sign of injury. There was none. Which did make sense, if he had been wounded, he probably wouldn’t be standing away from the ambulance.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I wasn’t in the crash. I just saw it happen.” Roger’s tone was flat. He wasn’t looking at Freddie, instead, fidgeting at his now empty pack of smokes.

Freddie, still looking him over noticed some blood on his left shoulder.

“It’s not mine. It’s not mine. It’s that man’s. He got thrown out of the car. He was already dead, when I got to him.”

Freddie just squeezed his friend’s  a rm harder. He didn’t have any cigarettes. He would have given Roger one. Then he noticed a small teddy bear, incongruously  laying on the tree stump. There was some blood on it too. Roger saw where  Freddie’s  gaze was going, and his lips started to quiver. Freddie noticed. He always noticed these things. Wondering why on Earth he hadn’t started with that, he took his friend in his arms. A head of hair was soon burrowed in his chest, and the muffled sound coming from it where hard to confuse with anything else. Roger was crying. And swearing.

“Fucking hell.”

“It’s ok darling, it’s ok…”

“It’s not… Fucking shit… I…”

Roger’s head moved up. He half-heartedly tried to move away, Freddie kept him close.

“I was driving. Then this car, it overtook me, it was going too fast. Then there was this bend, and it just completely missed it, went right into the ditch. That noise, I…”

“It’s ok, dear, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“I already gave my statement to the cops. I might as well tell you.”

They sat down on the large tree stump. Roger picked up the teddy bear, looking at it. It wasn’t actually a bear, it was a bunny, still relatively new but as dirty even beyond the blood as any teddy bear which is loved. Freddie took Roger’s hand in his.

“I stopped, to see if there was anything I could do. There was a family in the car. There was a body on the ground, the father, I think. He was already dead. At that point I called the police, and then I went to the car to see… There was a woman, there, I don’t know if she was… There was smoke, and blood and chaos. I couldn’t get her out, it was getting hot…. Then I heard, crying. There was a baby, in that car. Maybe one year old, a tiny thing.”

In the corner of his eye, Freddie saw Brian, approaching. He gestured him to wait. Roger kept on talking like a dam had been opened.

“She was crying, terrified, of course she was. I managed to get her out, before the car started burning. There was a teddy bear that had fallen out of the car, I suppose I dragged it with her. The car started to burn. I don’t think the woman could have survived that. I… Then the police and paramedics arrived, and…”

O nce again, Freddie hugged his friend. 

“You did good, dear. You saved her.”

“I don’t know. I know what smoke can do to a baby that young. And she… she doesn’t have parents anymore.”

Brian walked closer. He had a survival blanket in one hand, and the other one was tugging at his curls.

“Hey, Rog, you ok?” he asked, passing the blanket to Freddie “It’s a bit cold, the paramedics said it might be a good idea. Err, I think the golden side’s supposed to face outwards” – the singer just put it on his friend’s shoulders.

“I talked to the police and paramedics. They said they were ready to give you a lift home, that you were free to go, they got your statement, I left them a contact, as they asked. I called John, told him what’s going on, he’s calling management to take care of your car and erm, we’ll take you back to the hotel, your room for tonight’s ready.” 

“The baby?” asked Roger, voice rough

“They said she’s going to be fine, they’re taking her to hospital, for a check up, but she should be ok. They’ve IDed her, they’re trying to contact her family.”

“Can you?” asked Roger, giving the plus toy to Brian.

“Give it back to her, yeah, sure.” He walked away to do just that.

F reddie and Roger walked to the car, climbed in the back while Brian sat down in the front to drive. Roger fell asleep in the car, curled up against his friend. 


End file.
